Russians
Russians (Russian: Русские) are an East Slavic ethnic group that is fairly native to Russia and northern Ukraine. There are also ethnic Russians living in former Russian Empire and Soviet territory such as Lithuania and Estonia. The Russians have their own unique and glorious history, who occupied the largest empire in Europe. The Russian people have also contributed to the identity of Slavic culture and nationalism - aiding other Slavic nations against their enemies in the past. Etymology The term Russian ''literally comes from the Old East Slavic kingdom of ''Rus. This was a collective medieval kingdom of the people who spoke the eastern dialect of the Old Slavic language. History 'Early History & Kievan Rus Russians trace their origin from the warring Caucasian and Mongolic tribes that had occupied what is now Russia. In fact, most of the ancient Russian rulers were Vikings themselves. The state of Kievan Rus is also known as Kievan Russia, loosely administered from Novgorod. Many of the early East Slavic people were referred to as ''Russians. A Viking (also known as Varingian) prince known by the name of Oleg (Олег) moved the adminstration of the Rus' from Novgorod to Kiev and further united the people of Rus' into a collective kingdom. When Vladimir the Great (Russian: Влади́мир) came to the throne, Christianity replaced Paganism and would become the main religion of the Kievan Rus'. Vladimir is also known as "St. Vladimir" for spreading Christianity to the majority-Pagan Kievan Rus'. In 1019, Yaroslav I the Wise; following a victory over his rival Svyatopolk; took the throne of Kiev. Under his rule, the Kievan Rus' saw the height of its power. The Kievan Rus' eventually met its destruction and dissolution. through poor rulers and Mongol invasions.http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/kievan-rus.html 'Russian Empire 1721-1917' The Russian Empire was formed from the remains of the Kieven Rus. Russian rulers were called czars (Russian: царь) which is Russian for the Latin word ceaser meaning'' emperor''. Sometimes it is also spelled as'' tsar or tzar which eventually became a common title for all Slavic rulers. When the Russian Empire came the under the rule of Czar Ivan III and extended Russia's borders. Ivan the Great defeated the Mongol forces and overthrew its rule over Russia, giving it an independent status. He also conquered the city of Novgorod.http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/the-ryurikovich-dynasty/ivan-iii-the-great/ Ivan III's successor, Ivan IV or Ivan the Terrible; wasn't so great hence the name Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV was a ruthless czar who destroyed all opposition and killed family members, including his own son. In terms of military however, Ivan the Terrible reflected Ivan the Great and extended Russian territory, conquering the Turkic Khazar Kingdom.http://www.biography.com/people/ivan-the-terrible-9350679 In 1862, the Russian Empire reached its most glorious age under the rule of Czar Peter I, or Peter the Great. Peter I observed the history of Russia and sought to westernized it, followed by a desire to create a reminiscent of the Roman Empire. The empire saw a great renaissance and numerous building projects under Peter I, including the Winter Palace, one of Russia's greatest architectural features. He also worked to industrialized and urbanize Russia, he sent groups of workers into the hot and swampy areas of Russia and turned them into the great thriving city known as St. Petersburg or Petrograd.http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/peter1st.asp 'Naval Conflict with Japan 1904-1905' Peter the Great also had a deep interest in naval and maritime activity and worked to give Russia some naval domination in eastern Europe. However as Peter the Great's reign ended along with the approach of the 1900s, Russia's naval and military power met opposition from its eastern neighbor, Japan and the two collided over northern Pacific territory and the Chinese region of Manchuria. The Russian and Japanese forces collided in a year-long conflict known as the Russo-Japanese War over ports in the Pacific Ocean which is known as the first major conflict of the 1900s. The Japanese forces were better-prepared for this war, attacking many Russian positions and ports, most of the battles ended up in Japanese victories. The Russians eventually surrendered and resorted to a diplomatic solution. In 1905, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Portsmouth. The Russian defeat shocked the world, and gave Japan a new status as a power.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/514017/Russo-Japanese-War 'World War I 1914-1917' Despite losing to Japan, the Russians continued to rebuild their army, which proved be to slow due to the poor governing skills of Czar Nicholas II who many argue was responsible for Russia's loss against Japan. The Russian military continued to compete with those of the other European nations such as Britain, Germany and France who were the western powers. The Russians also signed a series of treaties and pacts with other Slavic nations such as Serbia. On June 28, 1914; a radical Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princip murdered the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife during a speech in Sarajevo, which is the modern-day capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This caused the Austro-Hungarian army to declare war on Serbia.http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-war-i/countries-involved.html Since Serbia was an ally and protectorate of Russia, the Russians retaliated and declared war against Austria-Hungary, who was an ally and protectorate of Germany who then declared war on Russia. The Russians eventually entered World War I on the side of western allies, but still failed to achieve a victory against the Germans. The Russians were fairly slow in advancing and adopting to the new modern technology of the time, such as trenches and machine guns. The Russians ended up signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 which officially withdrew Russia from World War I.http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/treaty-of-brest-litovsk-concluded 'Russian Revoluion 1917-1922' In 1917, fed up with Czar Nicholas II, a militia known as the White Army (Russian: Бѣлая Армiя) or the White Russians violently ousted Czar Nicholas II and his family out of power in what is known as the First Russian Revolution which established a short-lived democratic and provisional government.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/642107/White-Army Another militia known as the Red Army, or the ''Bolsheviks ''(Russian: большевики) defeated the White Army and overthrew democracy in Russia to replace it with a new form government and economy, known as communism in which all people recieve equal pay with complete government regulation. It originated from a German philosapher by the name of Karl Marx.http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html The Red Army was led under a man named Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов), more commonly known as Vladimir Lenin (Владимир Ильич). In 1922, a communist government was established in Russia, its people were known as Soviets. The Red Army was transformed from a revolutionary militia, to the official military force of Russia.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494046/Red-Army Lenin brought back order and stability to Russia and founded the United Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик), more commonly known as the "Soviet Union". The Soviet Union was a collective nation of many ethnc states, Slavic and non-Slavic. 'World War II 1941-1945' Following Lenin's death, the Soviet Union fell under the leadership of Joseph Stalin from the Georgian SSR. Stalin led a very and extremely opressive regime in the Soviet Union, something that both the White Army and the Bolsheviks had fought to eliminate, which came at the cost of 10,000,000 innocent Russian and Ukrainians' lives under his order.http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html Stalin also worked to rebuild the Soviet Army and enforced harsh industrial policies. Over in the west, the outcome of World War I was the Treaty of Versailles which harshly blamed Germany for the war. Germany's new dictator, Adolf Hitler, committed atrocities of his own including the murder of 6,000,000 Jews as well as the onslaught of France and military domination of western Europe. At the Eastern Bloc, the Soviets were dealing with their own problems and shared a similar goal. Like Hitler, Stalin also invaded smaller countries to enforce military domination in eastern Europe and even Asia having defeated China in 1929. In 1939, the Soviets invaded Finland. That same year, Mongolia was fighting an independence war against Japan. The Soviets helped the Mongolians fight Japan, and defeated Japan that year, winning Mongolia as a protectorate territory. The Soviets also defeated Japanese forces in Manchuria. After these victories, the western nations officially felt threatened by the power of the Soviets. Joseph Stalin was tricked by Adolf Hitler by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact also known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact, which promised non-aggression between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, scaring the western nations even more. Both armies invaded Poland in 1940 and divided its borders among themselves. However, unity with the Soviets was not of Hitler's plan who had a deep hatred against communists like Stalin. After pounding the western countries with constant invasions, Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union in 1941 and invaded it. The German army in the Soviet Union was known as the ''Wehrmacht. The Soviet army was caught off-guard and unprepared for such an invasion. The Soviets were unable to stop the Nazis, ending feelings of military invincibility. During the early years of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the Russians lost many key cities. They were defeated in the Battle of Minsk, the brutal Battle of Kiev in 1941, and the Battles of Polotsk resulting in the capturing of millions of Soviet soldiers. Even the most fortified and desperately-defended positions known as the Stalin Line fell to the Nazis. Hitler's main targets were Leningrad (once Petrograd), Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and Moscow, using the German war tactic known as the blitzkrieg which means "lightning war" in German in which troops, tanks and planes pound on an enemy's position forcing them into starvation and eventually, submission. Despite successful military occupation of these three major Russian cities, the plan to starve the Soviets into submission did not work. The Soviets endured through starvation and mounted a strong and stubborn resistance, to the point where many unarmed civilians and soldiers used themselves as human shields causing overwhelm to the Germans and millions more of causalities for the Soviets. The Soviets used a tactic known as the suicidal charge. The brutal Russian winter and heavy mud-slides in the warm regions of Russia also caused the German machines to malfunction. This bought time for the Soviet Red Army to re-mobilize. The Germans were also faced new type of warfare, one they had never expected or prepared for, sniper warfare in Stalingrad. The heroic works of Soviet snipers in Stalingrad killed many of Germany's important officers and leaders in Stalingrad making the battle even more a nightmare for the Nazis. In 1943, the tides turned when the Nazi war machine finally fell in Stalingrad, giving the Soviets a major victory. Leningrad and Moscow also followed, which finally marked the beginning of the end of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. The victories at these three cities bruised the Wehrmacht in Russia and gave them a chain-reaction effect of losses. The Soviets continued to reverse Hitler's invasion, pushing the Wehrmacht forces back, liberating cities that they previously lost such as Kiev and Minsk. Soviet and Nazi tanks clashed in the Battle of Kursk in 1943, the biggest battle between military machine-works, ending up in a Soviet victory. In 1945, the Soviets finally stepped on German soil and invaded Nazi Germany. In April 15, 1945, they reached Berlin. Adolf Hitler tried to mimic the Soviet gallantry in Stalingrad by mounting a strong resistance against the Soviets, which they did. The Germans still failed to make their last-stand a victory. The Soviets shelled Berlin and penetrated deep into the Reichstag, the capitol of the German parliament and sealed their victory with raising of the Red Banner atop the Reichstag marking the final destruction of the German war machine.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II) 'Cold War 1946-1992' 'Political/Military Competition' The Soviet Union grew out of the ruins of World War II as a military superpower, containing Europe's biggest army and the world's second most powerful military, continuing to pose a border threat to the western nations. The only nation that stood in its way was its western and democratic counterpart, the United States which had nuclear weapons capable of turning any nation into a total barren wasteland in a matter of seconds. In 1949, the Soviets breezed past that challenge by testing their own atomic bomb which was a success, heightening more fear in the western world and it had become obvious that the Soviets were trying to outdo the United States in the biggest global arms race and indirect confrontation known as the Cold War.http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/soviet_atomic_bomb_test.asp The Soviet Union and United States stood as the two world lone powers (China was arguably a third lone power as well), competing against one another through proxy wars instead of a direct confrontation known as a "hot war" - using other nations to do their biddings. This became obvious during the Vietnam War, when the Soviet-backed North Vietnamese Army defeated the United States-backed pro-democratic armies of southern Vietnam, who held out for nearly twenty years (1955-1972) until the United States could no longer take the pressure and withdrew its troops and support. However, the Soviet war machine eventually faced a backlash in Afghanistan after during a failed attempt to annex it after being defeated by American and Arab-backed militias in Afghanistan. The conflict also came in the Korean Peninsula with Soviet-backed North Korea and Ameican-backed South Korea.http://dresnerworld.edublogs.org/resources/handouts/cold-war-proxy-wars/ Through the spread of communism, the Russians were able to control other countries and spread their influence. When China, another big nation that contained Asia's biggest army became communist, it had seemed that the Soviets had gained the upper ground in the war. Countries like Mongolia, Poland, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Romania and Moldova were under Soviet control and influence up the dissolution of communism in Eastern Europe in 1992. 'Cultural Competiton' The Soviet Union and United States became national rivals but only did both compete in military strength, but also in many sports events; with the Soviets winning most of the time. In 1980, the a boycott was led against the Olympic games which were supposed to be held in Moscow. It was relocated to Lake Placid in New York City, where an even known as the "Miracle on Ice" occurred. A hockey team, composed of young college kids defeated the superior and Soviet hockey juggernaut, winning the Gold Medal for the United States.http://proicehockey.about.com/cs/history/a/miracle_on_ice.htm In 1992 the Soviet Union dissoluted trailing the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Yugoslavia also dissoluted around the same time although in a much less-peaceful manner. Russia became a democratic country opening its economy to western markets. Today, Russia is still trying to recover from the devastation caused by the Soviet Union's collapse. Today, Russia is still recovering and has experienced remarkable recovery through president Vladimir Putin. Language The Russian language is a world major language and is spoken by 258,000,000 people either as a native or second language. Russian is a direct descendant of the Old East Slavic language. The Russian language is still spoken by minority Russian communities in former Imperial Russian and Soviet states such as Lithuania, Ukraine, Estonia, Poland and Romania. Russian is spoken as the national language of Russia and Belarus and an official language in also Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan which are all former Soviet states. It is spoken as a minority in Central Asian republics that no longer declare Russian as an official language, such as Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Belarussian, Ukrainian and Rusyn are related languages to Russian. They are also descended from Old East Slavic. There is also another language in Russia known as Church Slavonic, also a Slavic language. Church Slavonic is the liturgical language for the Eastern Orthodox Church (see religon below). Church Slavonic is also used in other Slavic countries as well that are followers of eastern sections of the Orthodox Church. The Cyrillic alphabet is used to write the Russian and Church Slavonic languages. The Cyrillic script itself had been a different dialect-script of Greek and originated in Bulgaria. The script was perfected by Greek linguists and religious leaders, St. Cyril and Methodius which became Russia and many other Slavic states' official scripts. Religion Most Russians are followers of the Russian Orthodox Church with a small number of atheists (from Soviet era), agnostics and Old Believers (pre-Orthodox followers). For long, the Eastern Orthodox Church has been deeply embedded into East Slavic culture, creating somewhat of an ethno-religious identity. The Greek and Cryllic scripts function as liturgical scripts for certain Orthodox sections. When Orthodox Christianity was introduced to the Slavic people by St. Vladimir the Great; domes became part of Russian architecture. This is an influence that shows Greek-Byzantine origin. St. Basil's Catheral in Moscow is a perfect example. This cathedral is a famous landmark in Moscow, the snowy capital of Russia and a world UNESCO site. The colored onion domes atop the cathedral reflect the glorious imperial history of Russia. Cuisine The cuisine of Russian evolved from several historical periods of the country. A lot of the cuisine can be traced back to early peasants who had to survive the brutal Russian winters, who passed on their traditions. There are also Mongol and Turkic influences in Russian cuisine. In addition, staple ingredients include fish, game (meat that is hunted and not bought), mushrooms, honey as well as berries. Meat and game is boiled for long periods of time. Wheat, rye and barley provide dishes such as breads, pancakes, cereals. Staple beverages include milk, beer and vodka. Kvass ''is a sour milk that is used to make a cold soup known as ''okroskha ''(окрошка) in the summer time. Sour cream is also used to top okroshkha. There is also a dumpling known as ''pelmeni ''(Russian: пельме́ни). Pelmeni originated from Siberia, brought over by Mongol tribes. Pelmeni is much more similar to Mongolian ''buuz ''dumplings that it is with Chinese ''gyoza ''dumplings. Despite its Mongol-origin, pelmeni is popular throughout all of Eastern Europe as well, specifically Belarus. ''Medovukha ''(Russian: Медовуха) is an alcoholic drink made with fermented-honey, also fairly original to Lithuania. This is a beverage that has existed for millenia in Russian and Lithuanian history. Medovukha's alcohol content tends to be generally low. ''Vodka ''(Russian: водка) is a distilled alcoholic drink that also originated in Belarus as well. Vodka only contains very few hints of flavoring and is known to be dangerously strong for many consumers. Consequently, vodka is drunken in very small glasses known as "shots". This is a beverage that is no longer confined to Slavic countries and can be found in stores all over the world.' ''' Notable Russians or People of Russian Origin Works Cited Category:Russians Category:Russian Federation Category:Russia Category:Russian people Category:Siberia Category:Mongols Category:Kiev Category:Kievan Rus Category:Soviet Union Category:USSR Category:Soviets Category:Stalin Category:Lenin Category:Vladimir Lenin Category:Mongolia Category:Karl Marx Category:Communism